Climate Justice can help end poverty

In some circles it has become politically acceptable to state that poverty cannot be eradicated in our lifetime: that the means are not available, that there is a lack of political will, or even that those who "can't keep up" need to assume more responsibility for their own lives. Others are politically correct enough not to say any of this aloud, yet their actions (or lack thereof) expose them. Even the Millennium Development Goals call only for a halving of the proportion of people who suffer from hunger. In other words, the international community will consider itself successful if by 2015 "only" about 500 million people are left starving in the world (a target we do not look set to meet).

I would ask those who do not believe we can eradicate hunger to travel to the developing world - better yet, to travel to the slums of their own countries - and meet some of the close to one billion people who currently go hungry every day. Meet these people so that numbers become faces and faces receive names. After bearing witness to the suffering and even the deaths of these people, they might then find the means to make poverty history. It can be done; there is still enough food on this planet to feed all of us, it is how this food is allocated that needs changing.

In the meantime, while 50,000 people die from preventable causes daily, what we need is the universal will to make change. October 17 is the International Day for the Eradication of Poverty and this year the call is for Climate Justice to End Poverty.

Because climate change causes drought, floods and other natural disasters that affect food production, it has become one of the greatest threats to reducing poverty, advancing global development and realizing human rights that the world has ever seen.

Two years ago, Kofi Annan's Global Humanitarian Forum estimated that 300,000 people had died of the results of climate change. It’s a good bet that close to all of these people were among the world's poor and were least responsible for the climate chaos we find ourselves in.

The year 2010 looks to be the hottest ever recorded and predictions for the coming years are grim: warmer temperatures, less and more erratic rainfall and more extreme weather events. The list of what we can expect as a result of increased global warming is frightening: resource scarcities, unstable weather conditions and higher food prices. Most people living in the developed world, have so far been spared most of the more dangerous phenomena, but we are reaching a point in time when fewer of us will be able to escape climate change related ravages; we are, for example, already effected by higher food prices.

Last Sunday during the world’s first ever Global Work Party on climate change, organised by a range of activist groups, including the tcktcktck campaign, 350.org, Greenpeace and the Global Call to Action Against Poverty, people in 188 countries took part in over 7,000 events meant to establish new habits that will help curb the carbon emissions that cause climate change. The Global Work Party was a cry to governments that people want action, that enough is enough. We will not sit idly by and watch as our planet and millions of the people who live on it are slowly destroyed because those in power would not make the changes necessary to curb catastrophic climate change and help eradicate poverty.

History teaches us that when decent people take risks and engage in struggle for principles, peacefully and courageously, pursuing civil disobedience where necessary, then those who occupy the instruments of power, whether in government or in the financial sectors, will listen and understand. Last weekend was a good first step, but it will take an unprecedented alliance of people from all walks of life to force fundamental changes in the institutions that are holding us back: from environmentalists, faith-based organizations, human rights activists, trade unions, educators and those on both the left and the right who have never considered how the natural world affects their lives.

We must work in the places where the actions causing climate change can be reduced - in our own homes and workplaces as well as the rainforests of Brazil, Congo and Indonesia and the coal mines of West Virginia and Poland. We must direct much more of our resources to the developing world for training in how to adapt to the irreversible consequences of the climate change already under way.

I have seen people die from completely preventable causes and wouldn't wish the experience on anyone. By eradicating poverty and hunger, and vigorously addressing climate change, many such deaths may be prevented. Hopefully politicians will learn to act before it is too late.

The public and voters are on to our CO2 mistake. Yes, Yes, Yes, the majority of the a$$ kissing bureaucrats of the majority of the main publicly and or politically funded science organizations, endorsed the continued support of the CO2 theory while the majority of the scientists themselves and the majority of the independent science organizations DID NOT support the 24 year old CO2 theory.
Ah the science of climate change, fueled relentlessly by the unconscionable corporate media, the details of which were fed to the media by environmental groups who themselves forged alliances with politicians who in turn provided more and more funding for the environmental groups to pay the scientists to keep the blood running in the CO2 theory. Now do you see the never ending cycle of perpetual motion that fed fuel to this Disco science you fading doomers thought was pure as the driven snow? Scientists not only polluted the planet with their chemicals, they also produced cruise missiles, cancer causing chemicals, land mine technology, nuclear weapons, germ warfare, strip mining technology, deep sea drilling technology and now climate change. Consensus is just an empty, shallow and transparent word now and the voters see us as wishing for this misery to have happened. We look real bad here folks.
If you don’t get now, you soon will because a wave of denier rage is coming from a generation of real liberals who won’t tolerate another round of CO2 death threats. The CO2 mistake was the Iraq War of lies for science, journalism and liberalism. Turns out climatologists were to science what priests were to the Catholic Church. Let’s all get ahead of the curve and back off of climate change.
When you believe in things you don’t understand, ………..bad things happen. Let’s be progressive.

It is very sad that at the end of the hottest summer, in the hottest year, in the hottest decade in human history, people like mememine69 are still de...

It is very sad that at the end of the hottest summer, in the hottest year, in the hottest decade in human history, people like mememine69 are still denying the reality of global climate change. What is really surprising is the conspiracy theory mentality. Like scientists are getting rich off their theories. Let me tell you something mememine69, I am an environmental scientist, and we definitely don't do the work we do because of any financial incentives. That idea is laughable if you look at the average pay scale for people in my field. If you want to look for special interests that might be manipulating the media, look towards those who profit the most from keeping alive the falacy of denialism. The coal, oil and gas industries ARE the wealthiest and most profitable entities on Earth. Please wake up before it's too late. http://killingmother.blogspot.com/2010/05/drip-drip-drip.html http://killingmother.blogspot.com/2010/10/10-10-10-greatest-global-movement-to.html

We deniers (all former believers), feel your envy, hate and thoughtlessness as you condemn children to death by CO2. This was a CO2 mistake and has do...

We deniers (all former believers), feel your envy, hate and thoughtlessness as you condemn children to death by CO2. This was a CO2 mistake and has dobe to the left what Bush did to the neocons. Why did you believers want this misery to happen? Fear wasn’t not the only motivation and the public resentment towards the remaining climate change believers is showing a wave of denial rage coming from a new generation of real liberals who doubt, question and challenge authority, not pay politicians to make the weather colder with our taxes. This CO2 mass insanity is environMENTAL ism’s Iraq War of lies and fear mongering and if you love humanity and Nature, I suggest you get ahead of the curve. The Nazi’s hated Jews with wealth while you heartless CO2 believers hated ANYONE with wealth and waste.
Preserve, protect and respect Nature and ignore the CO2 believers that tried to lead responsible environmentalism down the wrong road.

Yes, the US governments are waking up and taking notice. I'll give precisely two ha has to whomever it is that wishes Earths climate, and human relat...

Yes, the US governments are waking up and taking notice. I'll give precisely two ha has to whomever it is that wishes Earths climate, and human relationships to Earths climate, to become and remain wholly political issues.

That's it, just two laughs. None for the diligent work you have invested in raising doubts and have invested in sowing confusions. None for the overtime. None for the massively funded campaigning.

The rationale is simple; Humans really do have relationships with our climate.

Yep, it is election time in USAmerica; hoards of smear campaigners are out spreading crap as far as they can, but our relationships with climate hasn't really changed much.

Thanks, Kumi Naidoo. We flushed one. Let's see if s/he will work in tandem...

One minor point, killingMother: Mainstream US "News" is largely owned by special interests.